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Enclosed concession trailer design ideas

I would make it a frame of steel members and the side panels and roof would also be steel.

Are there any suggestions for a design?

The probable size would be about 8' wide (probably 8' 4'') and about 16 feet long (exclusive of the tongue and hitch) and the box (exclusive of the suspension members) would be about 8' high.

My thinking would be to build a frame for the side panels and roof and weld the plates onto the frame members. I am thinking to space the frame members somewhere between 2' and 4' apart. I am thinking of using either 14 gauge or 16 gauge steel for the plating. I am thinking I would have both outside panels and inside panels, both for the walls and the roof. I am thinking that the frame for the walls and the roof would be 2" square tubing of 14 gauge. What would be most appropriate? I would like it to be somewhat beefy, but I am a bit worried about it being too heavy.

My rough calculations are telling me that the basic box is likely to be well over 3000 pounds.

The base would be made of square tubing. Would 2" 14 gauge square tubing be sturdy enough?

I am thinking that it would probably require tandem axles.

Please give me any good ideas for design and construction that you have.

Thanks.

P.S. Suggestions such as "don't build your own trailer" are also valid.

My main product offering would be frozen custard (the real stuff, not soft serve). I already have the machine.

I would also consider the possibility of including a griddle and/or fryer to allow for a secondary line of of product, but it may be better to keep it simple, in which case it would just be frozen custard.

Using a CAD program I have been sketching out some trailer layout ideas off and on for the last few months, but haven't settled on a definitive layout yet.

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I would tend to think there are used ones floating around for a fraction of the price? Look on ebay?

It's true that there are a lot of concession trailers listed on ebay. I have a standing search the alerts me each day for new listings of concession trailers. So far none have been quite right. Actually, one was pretty close to what I would want (good floor plan), and it was only a few miles away, but (long story) I didn't see it until the auction was closed. It's a pity because it sold at a rather low price too.

I also regularly look at Craigslist and other local classified ads. Sometimes concession trailers show up there, and I have looked at three so far, but they either weren't suitable or ended up being sold before I could make an offer.

One of the special requirements of my setup is that I have a very large and heavy condenser unit that will need to be roof-mounted. Another thing is that most used trailers would have to be at least partial gutted and rebuilt in order to get the floor plan right. All that remodeling will take a lot of work and cost some money as well.

Building would likely take even more work, but at least I could customize the floor plan to the best fit for my purpose.

Still, looking for a used one is an excellent idea, and I think it might be slightly less expensive to buy a used one than to build one myself from scratch, provided I could find the right unit to start with.

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All the doors. latches, all that stuff is super time consuming to build, modifying starting with a basic unit would be so much faster, there just isn't room to save a lot in this deal.
I have built trailers over the years, only way I do it now is if its something special. They are so competitive its tuff to buy the materials for what you can buy one for.

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Just one request from a future customer, make the awnings 7' high minimum. Curbs are about 6". When you pull up on the curb with a 6.5' awning, anyone over 6' needs to duck to order etc.

From someone that used to work in kitchen - the ultimate goal is a floor that you can pretty much hose out when it gets too dirty.

Good ideas, both of them.

Following up on one of your comments, if the unit were made of painted steel would it be easy to clean by the hose method and some long handled brooms and brushes? It seems to me that this would get the big stuff, and the rest could be touched up by hand.

Regarding floor plan, if the dipping cabinet for the frozen custard were placed behind the person at the serving counter, how much space would be needed for convenient operation? Do you think that 2' 4" would be squeezed too tight?